Pages

Saturday, April 14, 2012

[PHI 3000] Metaphysical foundationalism

the metaphysical foundationalist thinks all being must originate in basic being and rejects limitless chains of dependence (metaphysical infinitism) and circular dependence (metaphysical coherentism). There must be a ground of being. If one thing exists only in virtue of another, then there must be something from which the reality of the derivative entities ultimately derives.

There seem to be two major claims here:

"There must be a ground of being."

"If one thing exists only in virtue of another, then there must be something from which the reality of the derivative entities ultimately derives."

Both (1) and (2) are supposed to be laws of metaphysics, i.e., true in every possible world.

Now, consider a possible world in which there is nothing but one quark (or string or whatever else the basic constituent of matter turns out to be). Is this a possible world where being has no ground?

Also, consider a possible world that consists of Leibnizian monads "all the way down." Is this a possible world in which there is no ultimate reality from which the reality of the monads is derived?

No comments:

Post a Comment

This is an academic blog about critical thinking, logic, and philosophy. So please refrain from making insulting, disparaging, and otherwise inappropriate comments. Also, if I publish your comment, that does not mean I agree with it. Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog.

About This Blog

Mastering the art of Critical Thinking allows one to fend off verbal attacks on one's mind just as mastering a martial art allows one to fend off physical attacks on one's body. Critical Thinking involves: analyzing claims, assessing evidence for claims, figuring out how evidence supports claims, questioning what doesn't make sense, and deciding what is worthy of belief. This blog is about using critical thinking skills both inside and outside the classroom. Its goal is to help my students become critical thinkers.